Romance by any other name
by MiraculousMarauder
Summary: Adrien and Marinette have been dating for six months, and the bluenette decides its time for her to be more romantic. Lots of fluff. Three shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Originally just a one shot but it got a little long so I've broken it down into 3. Post reveal, Adrienette fluff. Enjoy.**

 **I do not own the image or Miraculous Ladybug**

"Eugh, this is so _hard!_ I don't know how he does it."

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was sat on the floor of her bedroom with her best friend, Alya Cesaire. Between them was a large sheet of white paper covered in scribbles and thick red lines. The two had been sat there for some time and both were starting to experience the twin irritations of frustration at being unable to come up with a good idea coupled with the pins and needles in their legs.

The bluenette flopped onto her back, her legs still crossed in front of her, and allowed her eyes to rove over her extensive albeit greatly diminished, range of photos and posters of one Adrien Agreste. Over the years she had moved past her obsessive fan-girling and gotten to know the real boy behind the camera lens. While her adoration had only grown, the infatuation had developed into real love. Discovering he was a pun-loving, flirtatious, dork, while taking her aback at first, had only made him more attractive in her eyes, if that was even possible. Finding out he wasn't perfect meant that she no longer held him on a pedestal. It made him more real, and far more attainable.

Six months ago, the pair had become a couple, following a fairly harrowing identity reveal as Paris' superhero duo, Ladybug and Chat Noir. It had taken weeks for the two of them to regain their equilibrium and stop questioning what they thought they knew. But that is a story for another time.

The intervening months had seen the hero's relationship only grow stronger, and in their civilian lives things couldn't be better. Marinette sighed dreamily as she thought back over their time together. They both had begun to merge the personalities of their civilian and hero identities, finally comfortable in showing their true selves. Marinette was more confident, sassy and a little flirtatious in her day to day life and less afraid to show her vulnerabilities as Ladybug. And while Chat Noir had toned down the flirting, Adrien had definitely ramped it up, often leaving Marinette a greater blushing, stuttering mess than ever before. Some things never change. He openly punned, causing more groans than laughter amongst his friendship group. Secretly, they were happy that the uptight model was finally letting loose and seemed genuinely happy. He was also incredibly romantic, writing her poems, picking her flowers, buying her gifts and finding new and creative ways to compliment her and show how much he loved her.

Hence her current conundrum.

They had been together for six months, and she wanted to do something romantic for him. But what? He made romance seem effortless and she couldn't come up with one half decent idea. _What kind of girlfriend am I?_ she derided herself. She groaned in frustration and rubbed her hands across her face before sitting back upright. Her best friend was still sat there, phone in hand as always. Alya smiled broadly at her frustrated friend and pointed a finger in her face.

"Girl, you need a break, and I need some of your parents delicious pastries. Let's get some snacks and go for a walk in the park," the auburn beauty gestured out of the window. "It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining," she got to her feet and grabbed Marinette's hand. Pulling her up as well, Alya's face set into a mask of happy determination. "Come on, this will be good for you," she stated, dragging the reluctant bluenette out of the room behind her. Marinette took one last fleeting look at the multitude of pictures adorning her pink wall and succumbed to her friend's insistent pulling, allowing herself to be towed from the room.

Adrien Agreste, college student, part time model, part time superhero and all round nice guy was currently in a foul mood. Despite his cold relationship with his father and his mother gone, he generally had a fairly sunny disposition. He liked to see the best that life had to offer, but despite the shining sun, he would rather be anywhere else. He had been up early that morning for piano lessons and now he was in the park. But instead of relaxing under a tree or having fun with friends he was working.

He watched the shift of light move over the dappled grass as wisps of cloud drifted across the sky and felt the slight summer breeze lightly ruffle his hair, but none of it was enough to lift his mood as an irate photographer barked orders at him. Adrien had been happy, seductive, playful, brooding (that one hadn't required any effort on his part), but nothing seemed to be working for the photographer.

The blonde model was currently completely ignoring the photographer and staring blankly into the distance. His mind was running through the multitude of activities he would rather be doing. The list included video games with his best friend Nino, cuddling with Marinette and patrolling with Ladybug. Hell, even shoe shopping with Chloe would be preferable right now. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a pair of pink jeans and blue pigtails and suddenly his stare wasn't quite so blank.

Adrien could feel a warm glow start in the pit of his stomach as the girl who occupied most of his thoughts came into view. She looked so beautiful with her sparkling blue eyes and her mouth wide in a grin as she laughed with the ombre haired girl next to her. It didn't seem like she'd noticed him yet but the fluttering wings of anticipation were filling his entire being. He felt the smile break out across his own face as Marinette turned in his direction and a soft blush touched her cheeks.

"Perfect! Perfect! Hold that pose!" Adrien started slightly at the photographers sudden excited outburst. He'd almost forgotten that he was being photographed. "This is it, perfect. That passion, that love, just like that Adrien. Yes, yes!" The photographer continued clicking away but the model had once again stopped paying attention. He was staring straight into Marinette's eyes and her shy smile was directed at him as she came closer. Alya had mysteriously disappeared, but he didn't care. All he cared about was seeing his girlfriend.

"Okay, Adrien, we're all done. That was fantastic!" The photographer finally noticed where Adrien's attention was directed and a smirk passed his lips. "Perhaps at the next photo shoot you should bring your little girlfriend along, non?" And his smile grew broader as the boys face flushed a deep red.

"Go on then, we're finished for the day, you can leave." Adrien needed no further prompting before he was taking quick steps towards the pigtailed girl, trying not to look overly eager by breaking into a full out run and only just barely succeeding.

He came to stop just as she threw herself into his arms and he staggered back a step, absorbing her momentum. He spun her round once before lowering her gently to the ground and rested his forehead against hers.

"Hi," he smiled breathlessly down at her.

"Hi," she replied, her eyes sparkling with happiness, her earlier stress forgotten while in his soothing presence. Gently, Adrien reached his hand up to her face and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, stroking his thumb across her cheek. Marinette leaned into his touch and closed her eyes blissfully. He pulled her closer, his hand tightening around her waist and lowered his head back down, lightly brushing his lips across hers.

Marinette sighed happily and returned his kiss. Her hands slid up from his shoulders to thread through his hair and she made a soft noise in the back of her throat, revelling in the feel of his silken locks. She slanted her head to deepen the kiss and was rewarded with a purring moan from the handsome blonde. Adrien ran his tongue along the seam of her lips and she parted them willingly, inviting his tongue into the warmth of her mouth.

Realising the public nature of their current situation, the pair reluctantly separated and smiled sheepishly at each other before Adrien reached for the bluenette's hand. They entwined their fingers and began to stroll aimlessly through the park, enjoying the sunshine and each other's company.

"So," the aspiring designer began, "how has your day been so far?" she glanced up to look at him.

"Boring, exhausting," he lifted the hand he was holding to brush a kiss across her knuckles, "so much better now that you're here."

"Hmm... How about a picnic then?" Marinette queried, redirecting them to head back towards her parents bakery. "Croissants, quiche, cupcakes, how does that sound?"

"Heaven," the boy replied, emerald eyes flashing mischievously, tugging her closer for a swift kiss. She pushed his face away and he laughed happily. They walked through the doors, the bell tinkling merrily, signalling their arrival.

Sabine Cheng looked up at their entrance and a beam lit up her face. She had been incredibly happy on learning about their relationship, and Adrien had only proven himself more and more worthy of her daughters affection over the past six months. She knew her husband, Tom, felt the same way.

"Well, hello you two. What brings you inside on this beautiful day?"

"Hello, Sabine," Adrien greeted. It was still a little odd for him but Marinette's parents had insisted on being on first name terms. "We thought we'd take advantage of my photo shoot finishing early, so we're going to have a picnic in the park," the blonde smiled sweetly down at the petite woman.

"Yes, Maman, we just wanted to come by and pick up a couple of things then we're heading back over."

The Chinese woman nodded her head in understanding and quickly began filling a box and two bags with treats, handing them to the teenagers with a smile and ushered them back out the door.

"Have fun you two," her smile turned sly, "but not too much!" and the pair heard her laughter following them out of the shop as they both blushed furiously.

Their afternoon in the park was fun, filled with feeding each other and flirting and now the couple were exhausted. Marinette was sat with her back against a tree, Adrien asleep with his head on her lap as she gently brushed her fingers through his hair. She smiled down at the sleeping boy, his mouth slightly open, his whole face relaxed. He looked so stress free, younger. She loved watching him like this. This is how he should always be. The rumbling purr that she could feel more than hear was relaxing and she soon started to drift off as well.

An hour later, Adrien woke to find his head pillowed on his girlfriends stomach as she lay stretched out beneath the tree. He crawled his way up so he was stretched out next to her and stroked a hand down the side of her face, enjoying her nuzzling into his palm and revelling in the breathy sighs of contentment she was making. It was getting late though, and they both needed to go home.

"Marinette," Adrien sing-songed, "Princess, time to wake up," he gently shook her shoulder. The sleeping girl stirred, groaning.

"Not yet... sleeping," she mumbled. Adrien chuckled and shook her shoulder a little harder.

"I don't think so. Come on, wakey wakey," he encouraged and finally she groaned, annoyed at being woken from a pleasant dream. But as she opened her eyes, she realised that the subject of said dream was nose to nose with her, and just like that her complaints evaporated. Adrien kissed her forehead, then pulled them both up to a seated position. "Time to go home, Mari."

She nodded in agreement and the two rose to their feet, stretching out the kinks. Once again they entwined hands and headed back to Marinette's home. At the door, Adrien pulled his girlfriend in for a lingering kiss, sweet and slow, both pulling back before it became more heated.

"See you tomorrow then, Princess," Adrien smiled wistfully down at the shorter girl. She smiled widely back up at him and pressed a quick peck to his lips before pulling him into a hug, inhaling his scent. Adrien buried his nose in her hair before planting one last kiss there, then breaking away to head back to his own home.

The next morning, Marinette was no closer to making a decision about her anniversary gift, and she was running out of time. She had some of Adrien's favourite treats from the bakery packaged up ready for him but she needed a gift that was more thoughtful, that proved he meant the world to her. She wanted to be romantic. It was down to the last few hours and she had to come up with something. Fast.

 **I hope you enjoyed this so far. Please review and I'll be posting the next instalment tomorrow. Thank you for reading**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for the reviews, favourites and follows, they mean so much to me. Normally I just send a PM to my reviewers if I can but there was one review left yesterday that I would like to reply to here as PMing isn't possible. , your review meant so much to me, that you would take the time to leave honest and helpful feedback. I understand exactly what you mean. I have a problem where I'm so desperate to get to the conclusion that I don't take the time with the details. I've tried hard to fight that in this fic and perhaps I've gone too far? Focussing on the details and losing a little heart along the way. I'm going to work on that so again, thank you. To everyone who wrote me such positive reviews, I can't get enough and I love you all for it.**

 **Now, on with the fluff. It gets a little cheeky (pun fully intended) in this chapter.**

The bluenette had woken uncharacteristically early. Looking at her clock, she realised with surprise that it wasn't even seven yet and she would have plenty of time to get ready for school and try to come up with a plan.

But first, she had some texts to send. Marinette would be surprising people, this morning. The first, of course, would be to Adrien.

To: Adrien 3 [Happy Anniversary! Can't wait to see you later, Kitty 3 xxx]

Now, Alya.

To: Alya [HELP! I don't know what to do!]

Leaving her phone on the side, Marinette got out of bed and started getting ready for school, racking her brains for a solution to her problem. She brushed her hair and headed downstairs for a quick breakfast. Her parents were already in the bakery, getting ready to open the shop, so Marinette sat alone, munching on her cereal and still brooding on her problem. She sighed deeply, then resigned herself to not solving it by herself. Maybe inspiration would come at school.

Glad she had another avenue to explore, Marinette put her empty bowl in the sink, wiped up some milk she had spilt and headed back up to her bedroom. Once there she checked her phone again, discovering several messages left for her. She opened the three messages from Adrien first.

From: Adrien 3 [Happy Anniversary, Princess]

From: Adrien 3 [What are you doing up so early? I'm still in bed!]

If those words weren't enough to conjure up some inappropriate fantasies, the next message sent her over the top. It was a photo he had taken of himself, which was innocent enough, featuring only his head and shoulders, but his ruffled hair spread on his pillow was enough to send her spiralling into more fantasies, not to mention his shoulders were bare and her mind was drifting down below what the image showed.

 _No, Marinette, behave yourself!_

She sent back a blushing emoji.

To: Adrien 3 [Just excited to see you. Love you x] she replied to his messages.

Then she opened the message from Alya.

From: Alya [You're up early!] _why is this such a surprise to everyone?_ [I'll talk to you at school]

Marinette sent back a thumbs up and finished getting ready for school, checking the time on her phone. The young designer smiled. If she left now she would be ten minutes early. With an excited skip she called to her kwami.

"Tikki, wake up, it's time for school."

"Marinette? How long have you been up?" The ladybug god asked, suppressing a yawn.

"A little while," she replied, "now, come on, let's go!" The excited teen grabbed some cookies and the kwami willingly followed them into her charge's bag. With one last look in the mirror, the pair headed off to school.

Marinette was there early and none of her friends had arrived yet. She took a seat on the front steps, enjoying the sunshine and pulling her sketch book out of her bag. She could hear Tikki contentedly munching on her breakfast and smiled. The designer had been working on a new dress concept for five minutes or so and was completely oblivious to the rest of the world, her focus one hundred percent on the page in front of her. Suddenly, the world turned to black and she felt, more than heard the whispered, "guess who?" tickle across her ear. Her breath hitched and she smiled, her lips quirking playfully.

"Oh, Felix, you shouldn't be here. My boyfriend could arrive at any minute," she exclaimed in a mock fearful tone. The hands in front of her eyes lifted and she heard a growl.

"Very funny, Bugaboo." She squealed as she felt his lips feather across her neck then gasped as his tongue slid across the sensitive flesh.

"A-Adrien!" Marinette stuttered, protesting weakly, "we're at sc-school!"

"You teased me, Princess, I'm just returning the favour," Adrien replied with a purr, his nose skimming up the side of her throat and nuzzling behind her very pink ear.

Marinette felt both relieved and bereft when he pulled back from his ministrations.

"Happy Anniversary, Mari," he smiled down at her and pulled her in for a - in their opinion - too short kiss. They laced their fingers together, Adrien pulling his girlfriend upright and the twosome headed into class, Marinette taking her usual seat behind the blonde.

The morning dragged somewhat, and Alya had still not been able to come up with any ideas overnight either. Marinette wasn't surprised and felt bad for leaning on her friend so heavily for something she should be able to do on her own.

The class ended with the bell signalling lunch time. She and Alya followed the two boys out of the classroom and Marinette caught the end of their conversation.

"... can't help it, man. I've got the algo-rhythm in me." Adrien grinned at his best friend, holding his fist out to Nino. The aspiring DJ pointedly ignored said fist.

"Just because we're in maths class, Bro, does not mean you're allowed to make maths puns," Nino berated, "bad maths puns at that."

An idea struck the excited bluenette and she started whispering furiously to Alya.

"What? No... Really?" The young blogger was confused by Marinette's whispered idea. "But I really don't think... okay, if you think it'll work. Oh, don't look now..."

The two turned back towards where the boys were walking, noticing that they had been joined by none other than Marinette's worst nightmare, Chloe Bourgeois. The blonde girl was clinging tightly to Adrien's arm and simpering up at him, pouting her lips in what the bluenette assumed was meant to be an alluring way. Rather that feeling jealousy, as she might have done in the past, the teen was fighting the impulse to laugh at the uncomfortable expression on her boyfriend's face as he leaned as far away from the obnoxious blonde as he could.

"Um... hey Chlo. How's it going?" Adrien queried, polite as always, and Marinette rolled her eyes, amused.

"Oh, Adrikins," Chloe fluttered her artificially enhanced eyelashes at him and the boy could swear he felt an actual breeze. "Come and have lunch with me at Daddy's hotel," she continued, "it's been positively _ages_ since we caught up." She tried steering Adrien away from his friends and towards her waiting limo.

"Um, actually Chloe, I'm having lunch with Marinette," Adrien explained, only somewhat apologetically.

"Why would you want to have lunch with _her_ when you could have a five star meal with _moi_?" she asked, nose in the air.

"Well, she is my girlfriend and it's our six month anniversary," the model explained, gently detaching himself. "Sorry, Chloe, maybe we can catch up some other time," although his voice lacked conviction.

Chloe sniffed huffily and stormed away, calling her faithful servant, Sabrina, after her.

"Well, that was uncomfortable," Alya quipped, grabbing Nino by the wrist and dragging him away from Adrien and Marinette. "See you after lunch, Girl."

The young designer was still suppressing giggles when she linked hands with her boyfriend and began towing him towards her home. Adrien looked unimpressed with her mirth and glowered at her. This only caused the bluenette's giggles to increase.

"I'm sorry," she gasped out, "it's just, your face... I can't even..." and she dissolved once more into laughter. Adrien couldn't help but smile at her amusement. She was cute when she was happy. Well, she was cute all the time but still.

They arrived at the bakery, grabbed the food that her parents had prepared for them and headed up to the living room to play a few rounds of UMSIII. They settled onto the sofa with a plate of sandwiches, controllers in hand. The young couple played a couple of rounds (Marinette won of course, but it was close), when the victorious girl set aside her controller.

"So... I have a small present for you now, but there will be something else later," she explained shyly.

"Mari, you didn't need to do that," Adrien assured, bouncing slightly in excitement, in direct contradiction to his words. He was like a kid at Christmas.

"Well, okay, never mind then," she sighed, inspecting her nails nonchalantly.

"Wait, no! Present! I want a present!" Adrien exclaimed. Marinette continued to look disinterested. "Pleeeease, Mari," Adrien begged, his face pressed against her arm as he gazed up at her with wide, pleading eyes. She tried to resist but, well, you know.

"Fine," she huffed, secretly pleased. Then an idea occurred to her. She smirked. The present was on the floor next to the sofa, on Adrien's side. Marinette flipped her hair flirtatiously then began to crawl across Adrien's lap. His face immediately heated up.

"Um... Mari? What are you doing?"

Marinette glanced back at him and smiled. The way she was leaning over the arm of the sofa was presenting her rear to him, and he was struggling not to look. She ducked her head back down and he gave in to the urge to ogle how her tight jeans lovingly encased her shapely bottom. He gulped audibly.

"Just getting your present, Chaton," she replied, and then she was back, repositioning herself so she was sat on his lap. Their new position helped ease Adrien's sense of loss from his previous view, although it presented something of a different problem. He really needed to reign in his thoughts. He pulled his mind from the gutter and focused on what was in her hands. Marinette presented the still blushing boy with a carefully wrapped box.

He gently tore away the wrapping, exposing the sweets that Marinette had made for him, including all of his favourites. He popped a bite into his mouth, sighing contentedly. After swallowing the delectable treat he kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"Thank you, Princess. These are wonderful."

The model smirked as he thought of how to get back at her for her teasing. Adrien had no doubt that it had been deliberate.

"All these sweets though," he said distractedly, moving her back across to her seat so he could stand up. "Don't you think I'm getting fat?" he questioned, sounding genuinely worried, fighting down his smile and lifting the hem of his t-shirt, exposing his flat stomach and a partial glimpse of his defined abs. His jeans rode low on his hips and Marinette immediately flushed tomato red.

"I-I-I... um... y-you are, uh..." the girl clamped her mouth shut as her brain failed to supply anything intelligible at the sight of her boyfriend's perfect, model body. Being Chat Noir probably didn't hurt either. All that leaping across rooftops and fighting bad guys could be quite the workout.

"What do you think?" he asked again, twisting this way and that, pretending to give her a better view of his 'fat' while flexing his muscles.

"What?" she squeaked, before he took pity on her and lowered his top again. He laughed good naturedly at her still dazed expression and pulled her to her feet. Marinette snapped out of her disorientation and glared at the boy. She tugged on their still clasped hands, pulling him flush against her then wound the fingers of her other hand through his hair and tugged him down for a kiss, standing on her toes to meet him halfway.

"You don't play fair," she muttered against his mouth before slanting her lips across his. The kiss had barely begun to heat up when they heard Sabine calling up the stairs.

"Time to get back to school, kids, or you're going to be late."

The two groaned mournfully, pulling away and resting their foreheads against each other. After a moment, they smiled at each other, grabbed their bags and headed back to school.

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. The last one will be posted tomorrow. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

It was late that evening and the sun had already set when Marinette was getting ready to head out and meet Chat Noir. While they would normally be going out for patrol, tonight Chat had special anniversary plans. It was the perfect time to give him her other gift. She only hoped he appreciated it.

She put on her prettiest, ladybug themed dress in a 1950's style with black lace underlay, and touched up her makeup, giving herself a cat eye but keeping the rest fairly neutral. She didn't know if they would be detransforming or not that evening but she wanted to be prepared.

Eventually she was ready and she called for Tikki to transform her.

"Tikki, spots on!" she cried and she was away out of her trap door.

Chat had been waiting for around twenty minutes on the roof of a building which had views of the Eiffel Tower. He had gotten there early in order to set up his plans and now he was waiting for his lady to arrive.

Ladybug dropped almost soundlessly onto the rooftop then stopped in awe. The sparkling twinkle of a thousand fairy lights were hung from poles and street lamps, creating a canopy of stars above the surprise her loving boyfriend had set up for her. There was a table covered in a pristine white cloth and set for two. Silver covered plates sat in each place and vase of flowers were in the middle of the table. He had obviously put a lot of effort in and she was floored. All the spotted hero could do was stare.

"Do you like it?" the usually cocky Chat Noir asked uncertainly. Ladybug snapped out of her reverie, realising it was time to put her plan into action.

"It's just _purr_ -fect," she purred at him, dropping her transformation. Chat was oblivious to her pun as he took in her beauty. With that dress and her hair down, she was breath-taking.

"You look absolutely stunning, my Lady," he said, dropping his own heroic disguise. Adrien stood in front of her in a classic black suit with an emerald green tie. Even out of costume that couldn't help but show a little of their alter-egos. It gave them both a small boost of confidence.

"You look _meow_ -vellous, yourself, Hot Stuff," she quipped back. He definitely heard her this time, his eyes widening slightly before he shook his head. _I must be hearing things,_ he thought to himself, smiling at her nick name for him. He lifted her hand to kiss her knuckles and lead her to the table.

Marinette's brow furrowed slightly in annoyance. She couldn't believe that he wasn't noticing her cat puns. She would have to step it up a notch.

"I've got to say, I'm _feline_ _purr-_ etty good about this evening." The bluenette stressed the puns a little more heavily this time and something flickered in his eyes, but still no comment.

"Oh?" he questioned, not sure where she was going with her statement.

"You've got to be _kitten_ me." She didn't even mean to do that one, it had just slipped out. But it seemed to have done the trick. Adrien finally seemed to notice what she was doing.

"Did you just..? No..." he shook his head. "Did you?" he eyed her tentatively.

"Starting to _cat_ -ch on, are we, Kitten?" she smirked at him seductively.

"You... punned! This is the best day of my life. I love you so much. You're the best girlfriend ever!" he gushed at her, glowing with happiness. She sighed with relief. This was definitely worth it. And for what it was worth, she didn't hate puns. Not really. Especially when they made her kitten happy.

The two sat down to eat. They talked, Marinette punned, they whispered sweet nothings and the evening passed in a dream. They finished off the meal with hot chocolate from a thermos that Adrien pulled out from under the table, along with a blanket. The two snuggled under together, sharing the sweet drink and sat in comfortable silence. Marinette rested her head on Adrien's shoulder and sighed in contentment.

Adrien was the first to break the quiet.

"So, I just want to say, thank you so much for my present. It really means a lot to me that you would pun, just to make me happy," he paused, reaching into his own pocket, "but I didn't give you your present yet."

Marinette waved her hands in front of her to reject his words.

"What are you talking about? You set up this whole night for me. It was... meow-gical." She rolled her eyes at her own pun but blushed when Adrien kissed her cheek gently.

"I do love you," he sighed dreamily and pulled a small box out of his pocket.

"Look, I know we're only seventeen and I want to say, before you open this, it's not an engagement ring, I'm not proposing," his eyes widened in panic, "not that I don't want to marry you someday, just... ugh, this isn't going how I planned."

Marinette lay a hand on his arm comfortingly, smiling encouragingly at him but not daring to say anything lest she ruin the moment. He took a deep breath and continued.

"Well, here," he placed the box in her hand. She gasped when she opened it. Nestled against the black velvet was a gold band studded across the face with small diamonds. "It's a half-eternity ring, more comfortable to wear than a full eternity ring and I thought it could be like a promise ring, and you can wear it on whatever finger you like, it's up to you," he was babbling. He rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous gesture but carried on. "What I mean to say, not very eloquently, is that even though I'm not proposing marriage right now, I want you to know that I want to be with you forever, for eternity." Adrien gazed deeply into her jewelled eyes. "Is that okay, Mari?"

Marinette was taken aback by his heartfelt speech and could feel the prick of tears at the back of her eyes. She threw herself into his arms, holding him as tightly as she could before easing back keeping herself nestled comfortably in his lap and holding her right hand for him to put the ring on her third finger for her. No sense in scaring her parents and inciting pregnancy rumours around school. She knew how easily things could be misinterpreted and whispers started, especially with the Chloe Bourgeois' of the world.

When it was securely in place the couple drew back together in a kiss that was sweet and gentle. Marinette sighed happily and drew back slightly, eliciting a whimper from the enamoured blonde and she smiled before drawing him back in for a deeper kiss. Her lips gently tugged at his lower one, sucking it into her mouth before lightly biting down on it, making him growl in the back of his throat. She shifted her position so that she was straddling him. Adrien clutched her more closely to him, one hand carding through her hair while the other settled on her rounded derriere, which he had been admiring earlier.

Their tongues tangled together while her hands made an exploration of his muscled arms and back before tugging his shirt out of the back of his trousers to caress the skin there. Adrien shivered lightly at her touch.

All too soon the pair broke away from each other, breathing heavily and clutching each other while their heart rates slowed.

It was drawing close to midnight and the two had school in the morning. This was the thought they both had but were loath to say. As always, Marinette was the voice of reason.

"We should probably go," she insisted reluctantly, her fingertips still grazing his waistband and driving thought from his mind.

He hummed, whether agreeing or not, she wasn't sure. He seemed equally reluctant to move away.

With a final sigh she pulled away, standing and turning toward home. She called for her transformation and looked behind her at her boyfriend. She was amused and a little excited to find that his eyes had wondered down to where his hand had rested moments ago.

"Checking _meow_ -t?" she quipped playfully before tossing her yoyo to a distant point and throwing herself from the building. She could hear his delighted laughter as he transformed himself and leaped across the rooftops, close on her tail.

 **Thank you to everyone who read this and especially to those who reviewed, followed and favourited. I know this was supposed to be about Marinette trying to be romantic (and I think it was successful) but it did seem to slip away from me at the end there with Adrien being the soppy romantic he is. I just couldn't help it.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed it anyway.**


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